How Often Do Breast Tissue Expanders Fail Due to Manufacturer's Error?

This sounds hihgly atypical. I have placed many tissue expanders and although mechanical failures do occur, they are relatively rare.

I am sorry to hear of your defective expander.  First off, I assure you that there is nothing you are doing wrong and very little you can do to prevent this.   It is extremely rare to have a defective expander due to mechanical failure.  It is even more unlikely for this to occur twice.    Your surgeon should be able to determine the exact etiology based on intraoperative exam of the defective expander.   I wish you a safe recovery.

 

Paul S. Gill, M.D.

Gill Plastic Surgery

Houston Double Board Certified Plastic Surgeon

This is extremely rare.  You can contact the company that made the expander and ask them for exact statistics.

Tissue expanders have a failure rate from manufacturing but it is quite low. More commonly, the expanders are inadvertently damaged during placement or during expansions. Using an inert dye such as Methylene blue inside the expander allows for identification of leaks created during surgery or in the early postoperative period via blue dye in the drain outputs. Having 5 holes in a single expander sounds less of a manufacturing problem and more like punctures from a needle. If a device is suspected of malfunction, it is protocol to return it to the manufacturer for integrity checks. To answer your question, it is not something that you are doing "wrong" and there is not much you can do to prevent it.

The expanders perform well.Sometimes the expander can shift in the pocket and it is difficult to locate the expansion port even with the magnet.I recently had to replace one that I had punctured because the expander flipped over on itself and once there are holes you have to replace it so it  is not a manufacturing defect.